A Mighty Saviour
A Sermon
(No. 111)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 4, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"Mighty to save."–Isaiah 63:1.
THIS, of course, refers to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who is
described as "coming from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah," and
who, when it is questioned who he is, replies, "I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save." It will be well, then, at the
commencement of our discourse to make one or two remarks concerning the
mysteriously complex person of the man and God whom we call our
Redeemer, Jesus Christ our Saviour. It is one of the mysteries of the
Christian religion, that we are taught to believe that Christ is God,
and yet a man. According to Scripture, we hold that he is "very God,"
equal and co-eternal with the Father, possessing, as his Father doth,
all divine attributes in an infinite degree. He participated with his
Father in all the acts of his divine might; he was concerned in the
decree of election, in the fashioning of the covenant; in the creation
of the angels, in the making of the world, when it was wheeled from
nothing into space, and in the ordering of this fair frame of nature.
Before any of these acts the divine Redeemer was the eternal Son of
God. "From everlasting to everlasting he is God." Nor did he cease to
be God when he became man. He was equally "God over all, blessed for
evermore," when he was "the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief," as
before his incarnation. We have abundant proof of that in the constant
affirmations of Scripture, and, indeed, also in the miracles which he
wrought. The raising of the dead, the treading of the billows of the
ocean, the hushing of the winds and the rending of the rocks, with all
those marvellous acts of his, which we have not time here to mention,
were strong and potent proofs that he was God, most truly God, even
when he condescended to be man. And Scripture, most certainly teaches
us, that he is God now, that he shares the throne of his Father–that
he sits "high above all principalities and powers, and every name that
is named," and is the true and proper object of the veneration, the
worship, and the homage of all worlds. We are equally taught to believe
that he is man. Scripture informs us that, on a day appointed, he came
from heaven and did become man as well as God, taking upon himself the
nature of a babe in the manager in Bethlehem. From that babe, we are
told, he did grow to the stature of manhood, and became "bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh," in everything except our sin. His
sufferings, his hunger, above all, his death and burial, are strong
proofs that he was man, most truly man; and yet it is demanded of us by
the Christians religion, to believe, that while he was man he was most
truly God. We are taught that he was a "child born, a son given," and
yet, at the same time, the "Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father." Whosoever would have clear and right view of
Jesus, must not mingle his natures. We must not consider him as a God
diluted into deified manhood, or as a mere man officially exalted to
the Godhead, but as being two distinct natures in one person; not God
melted into man, nor man made into God, but man and God taken into
union together. Therefore, do we trust in him, as the Daysman, the
Mediator, Son of God, and Son of Man. This is the person who is our
Saviour. It is this glorious, yet mysterious being, of whom the text
speaks, when it says, he is mighty–"mighty to save."
That he is mighty we need not inform you; for as readers of the
Scriptures you all believe in the might and majesty of the Incarnate
Son of God. You believe him to be the Regent of providence, the King of
death, the Conqueror of hell, the Lord of angels, the Master of storms,
and the God of battles, and, therefore, you can need no proof that he
is mighty. The subject of this morning is one part of his mightiness.
He is "mighty to save." May God the Holy Spirit help us in briefly
entering upon this subject, and make use of it to the salvation of our
souls!
First, we shall consider what is meant by the words "to save;"
secondly, how we prove the fact that he is "mighty to save;", thirdly,
the reason why he is "mighty to save;" and then, fourthly, the
inferences which are to be deduced from the doctrine that Jesus Christ
is "mighty to save."
I. First, then, WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE WORDS "TO SAVE?"
Commonly, most men, when they read these words, consider them to mean
salvation from hell. They are partially correct, but the notion is
highly defective. It is true Christ does save men from the penalty of
their guilt; he does take those to heaven who deserve the eternal wrath
and displeasure of the Most High; it is true that he does blot out
"iniquity, transgression, and sin," and that the iniquities of the
remnant of his people are passed over for the sake of his blood and
atonement. But that is not the whole meaning of the words "to save."
This deficient explanation lies at the root of mistakes which many
theologians have made, and by which they have surrounded their system
of divinity with mist. They have said that to save is to pluck men as
brands from the burning–to save them from destruction if they repent.
Now, it means vastly, I had almost said, infinitely more than this. "To
save" means something more than just delivering penitents from going
down to hell. By the words "to save," I understand the whole of the
great work of salvation, from the first holy desire, the first
spiritual conviction, onward to complete sanctification. All this done
of God through Jesus Christ. Christ is not only mighty to save those
who do repent, but he is able to make men repent; he is engaged not
merely to carry those to heaven who believe, but he is mighty to give
men new hearts and to work faith in them; he is mighty not merely to
give heaven to one who wishes for it, but he is mighty to make the man
who hates holiness love it, to constrain the despiser of his name to
bend his knee before him, and to make the most abandoned reprobate turn
from the error of his ways.
By the words "to save," I do not understand what some men say they
mean. They tell us in their divinity that Christ came into the world to
put all men into a salvable state–to make the salvation of all men
possible by their own exertions. I believe that Christ came for no such
thing–that he came into the world not to put men into a salvable
state, but into a saved state; not to put them where they could save
themselves, but to do the work in them and for them, from the first
even to the last. If I believe that Christ came only to put you, my
hearers, and myself into a state where we might save ourselves, I
should give up preaching henceforth and for ever; for knowing a little
of the wickedness of men's hearts, because I know something of my
own–knowing how much men naturally hate the religion of Christ–I
should despair of any success in preaching a gospel which I had only to
offer, its effects depending upon the voluntary acceptance of it by
unrenewed and unregenerate men. If I did not believe that there was a
might power, and which turns them from the error of their ways by the
mighty, overwhelming, constraining force of a divine and mysterious
influence, I should cease to glory in the cross of Christ. Christ, we
repeat, is mighty, not merely to put men into a salvable condition, but
mighty absolutely and entirely to save them. This fact I regard as one
of the grandest proofs of the divine character of the Bible revelation.
I have many a time had doubts and fears, as most of you have had; and
where is the strong believer that he not sometimes wavered? I have
said, within myself, "Is this religion true, which, day after day, I
incessantly preach to the people? Is it the correct one? Is it true
that this religion has an influence upon mankind?" And I will tell you
how I have reassured myself. I have looked upon the hundreds, nay, upon
the thousands whom I have around me, who were once the vilest of the
vile–drunkards, swearers, and such like–and I now see then "clothed
and in their right mind, "This must be the truth, then, because I see
its marvellous effects. It is true, because it is efficient for
purposes which error never could accomplish. It exerts an influence
among the lowest order of mortals, and over the most abominable of our
race. It is a power, an irresistible agent of good; who then shall deny
its truth. I take it that the highest proof of Christ's power is not
that he offers salvation, not that he bids you take it if you will, but
that when you reject it, when you hate it, when you despise it, he has
a power whereby he can change your mind, make you think differently
from your former thoughts, and turn you from the error of your ways.
This I conceive to be the meaning of the text: "mighty to save."
But it is not all the meaning. Our Lord is not only mighty to make men
repent, to quicken the dead in sin, to turn them from their follies and
their iniquities. But he is exalted to do more than that: he is mighty
to keep them Christians after he has made them so, and mighty to
preserve them in his fear and love, until he consummates their
spiritual existence in heaven. Christ's might doth not lie in making a
believer, and then leaving him to shift for himself afterwards; but he
who begins the good work carries it on; he who imparts the first germ
of life which quickens the dead soul, gives afterwards the life which
prolongs the divine existence, and bestows that mighty power which at
last bursts asunder every bond of sin, and lands the soul perfected in
glory. We hold and teach, and we believe upon Scriptural authority,
that all men unto whom Christ has given repentance must infallibly hold
on their way. We do believe that God never begins a good work in a man
without finishing it; that he never makes a man truly alive to
spiritual things without carrying on that work in his soul even to the
end, by giving him a place amongst the choirs of the sanctified. We do
not think that Christ's power dwells in merely bringing me one day into
grace, and then telling me to keep myself there, but in so putting me
into a gracious state, and giving me such an inward life and such a
power within myself that I can no more turn back than the very sun in
the heavens can stay itself in its course, or cease to shine. Beloved,
we regard this as signified by the terms "mighty to save." This is
commonly called Calvinistic doctrine; it is none other than Christian
doctrine, the doctrine of the holy Bible; for despite that it is now
called Calvinism, it could not be so called in Augustine's days; and
yet in Augustine's works you find the very same things. And it is not
to be called Augustinism; it is to be found in the writings of the
apostle Paul. And yet it was not called Paulism, simple for this
reason, that it is the expansion, the fulness of the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. To repeat what we have before said, we hold and boldly
teach that Jesus Christ is not merely able to save men who put
themselves in his way and who are willing to be saved, but that he is
able to make men willing–that he is able to make the drunkard renounce
his drunkenness and come to him–that he is able to make the despiser
bend his knee, and make hard hearts melt before his love. Now, it is
ours to show that he is able to do so.
II. HOW CAN WE PROVE THAT CHRIST IS "MIGHTY TO SAVE?"
We will give you the strongest argument first; and we shall need but
one. The argument is, that he has done it. We need no other; it were
superfluous to add another. He has saved them, in the full extent and
meaning of the word which we have endeavoured to explain. But in order
to set this truth in a clear light, we will suppose the worst of cases.
It is very easy to imagine, say some, that when Christ's gospel is
preached to some here who are amiable and lovely, and have always been
trained up in the fear of God, they will receive the gospel in the love
of it. Very well, we will not take such a case. You see this South Sea
Islander. He has just been eating a diabolical meal of human flesh; he
is a cannibal; at his belt are slung the scalps of men whom he has
murdered, and in whose blood he glories. If you land on the coast he
will eat you, too, unless you mind what you are after. That man bows
himself before a block of wood. He is a poor ignorant debased creature,
but very little removed from the brute. Now, has Christ's gospel power
to tame that man, to take the scalps from his girdle, to make him give
up his bloody practices, renounce his gods, and become a civilised and
Christian man? You know, my dear friends, you talk about the power of
education in England; there may be a great deal in it; education may do
very much for some who are here, not in a spiritual, but in a natural
way; but what would education do with this savage: go and try. Send the
best schoolmaster in England over to him: he will eat him before the
day is up. That will be all the good of it. But if the missionary goes
with Christ's gospel, what will become of him? Why, in multitudes of
cases, he has been the pioneer of civilisation, and under the
providence of God has escaped a cruel death. He goes with love in his
hands and in his eyes; he speaks to the savage. And mark ye, we are
telling facts now, not dreams. The savage drops his tomahawk. Says he,
"It is marvellous; the things that this man tells me are wonderful, I
will sit down and listen." He listens, and the tears roll down his
cheeks; a feeling of humanity which never burned within his soul before
is kindled in him. He says, "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ;" and
soon he is clothed and in his right mind, and becomes in every respect
a man–such a man as we could desire all men to be. Now, we say, that
this is proof that Christ's gospel does not come to the mind that is
prepared for it, but prepares the mind for itself; that Christ does not
merely put the seed into the ground that has been prepared beforehand,
but ploughs the ground too–ay, and harrows it, and does the whole of
the work. He is so able to do all this. Ask our missionaries who are in
Africa, in the midst of the greatest barbarians in the world–ask them
whether Christ's gospel is able to save, and they will point to the
kraal of the Hottentot, and then they will point to the houses of the
Kuraman, and they will say, "What has made this difference, but the
word of the gospel of Christ Jesus?" Yes, dear brethren, we have had
proofs enough in heathen countries; and why need we say more, but
merely to add this–we have had proofs enough at home. There are some
who preach a gospel which is very well fitted to train man in morals,
but utterly unfitted to save him, a gospel which does well enough to
keep men sober when they have become drunkards. It is a good thing
enough to supply them with a kind of life, when they have it already,
but not to quicken the dead and save the soul, and it can give up to
despair the very characters whom Christ's gospel was most of all
intended to affect. I could a tale unfold, of some who have plunged
head-first into the blackest gulfs of sin, which would horrify you and
me, if we could allow them to recount their guilt. I could tell you how
they have come into God's house with their teeth set against the
minister, determined that say what he would they might listen, but it
would be to scoff. They stayed a moment; some word arrested their
attention; they thought within themselves, "I will hear that sentence."
It was some pointed, terse saying, that entered into their souls. The
knew not how it was, but they were spell-bound, and stood to listen a
little longer; and by-and-bye, unconsciously to themselves, the tears
began to fall, and when they went away, they had a strange, mysterious
feeling about them that led them to their chambers. Down they fell on
their knees; the story of their life was all told before God; he gave
them peace through the blood of the Lamb, and they went to God's house,
many of them to say, "Come and hear what God hath done for my soul,"
and to
"Tell to sinners round
What a dear Saviour they had found."
Remember the case of John Newton, the great and mighty preacher of St.
Mary, Woolnoth,–an instance of the power of God to change the heart,
as well as to give peace when the heart is changed. Ah! dear hearers, I
often think within myself, "This is the greatest proof of the Saviour's
power." Let another doctrine be preached: will it do the same? If it
will, why not let every man gather a crowd round him and preach it.
Will it really do it? If it will, then the blood of men's souls must
rest upon the man who does not boldly proclaim it. If he believes his
gospel does save souls, how does the account for it that he stands in
his pulpit from the first of January till the last of December, and
never hears of a harlot made honest, nor of a drunkard reclaimed? Why?
For this reason, that it is a poor dilution of Christianity. It is
something like it, but it is not the bold, broad Christianity of the
Bible; it is not the full gospel of the blessed God, for that has power
to save. But if they do believe that theirs is the gospel, let them
come out to preach it, and let them strive with all their might to win
souls from sin, which is rife enough, God knows. We say again, that we
have proof positive in cases even here before us, that Christ is mighty
to save even the worst of men–to turn them from follies in which they
have too long indulged, and we believe that the same gospel preached
elsewhere would produce the same results.
The best proof you can ever have of God's being mighty to save, dear
hearers, is that he saved you. Ah! my dear hearer, it were a miracle if
he should save thy fellow that stands by thy side; but it were more a
miracle if he should save thee. What art thou this morning? Answer! "I
am an infidel," says one; "I hate and despise Christ's religion." But
suppose, sir, there should be such a power in that religion that one
day thou shouldst be brought to believe it! What wouldst thou say then?
Ah! I know thou wouldst be in love with that gospel for ever; for thou
wouldst say, "I above al men was the last to receive it; and yet here
am I, I know now how, brought to love it." Oh! such a man when
constrained to believe makes the most eloquent preacher in the world.
"Ah! but," says another, "I have been a Sabbath-breaker upon principle,
I despise the Sabbath, I hate utterly and entirely everything
religious." Well, I can never prove religion to you to be true, unless
it should ever lay h old of you, and make you a new man. Then you will
say there is something in it. "We speak that we do know, and testify
that we have seen." When we have felt the change it works in ourselves,
then we speak of facts, and not of fancies, and we speak very boldly
too. We say again, then, he is "mighty to save."
III. But now it is asked, WHY IS CHRIST "MIGHTY TO SAVE?" To this there
are sundry answers.
First, if we understand the word "save," in the popular acceptation of
the word, which is not, after all, the full one, though a true one–if
we understand salvation to mean the pardon of sin and salvation from
hell, Christ is mighty to save, because of the infinite efficacy of his
atoning blood. Sinner! black as thou art with sin, Christ this morning
is able to make thee whiter than the driven snow. Thou askest why. I
will tell thee. He is able to forgive, because he has been punished for
thy sin. If thou dost know and feel thyself to be a sinner, if thou
hast no hope or refuge before God but in Christ, then be it known that
Christ is able to forgive, because he was once punished for the very
sin which thou hast committed, and therefore he can freely remit,
because the punishment has been entirely paid by himself. Whenever I
get on this subject I am tempted to tell a story; and though I have
told it times enough in the hearing of many of you, others of you have
never heard it, and it is the simplest way I know of setting out the
belief I have in the atonement of Christ. Once a poor Irishman came to
me in my vestry. He announced himself something in this way: "Your
reverence, I'm come to ax you a question." "In the first place," said
I, "I am not a reverend, nor do I claim the title; and in the next
place, why don't you go and ask your priest that question?" Said he
"Well, your riv–sir, I meant–I did go to him but he did not answer me
to my satisfaction, exactly; so I have come to ask you, and if you will
answer this you will set my mind at peace, for I am much disturbed
about it." "What is the question?" said I. "Why this. You say, and
others say too, that God is able to forgive sin. Now, I can't see how
he can be just, and yet forgive sin: for," said this poor man, "I have
been so greatly guilty that if God Almighty does not punish me he
ought; I feel that he would not be just if he were to suffer me to go
without punishment. How, then, sir, can it be true that he can forgive,
and still retain the title of just?" "Well," said I, "it is through the
blood and merits of Jesus Christ." "Ah!" said he, "but then I do not
understand what you mean by that. It is the kind of answer I got from
the priest, but I wanted him to explain it to me more fully, how it was
that the blood of Christ could make God just. You say it does, but I
want to know how." "Well, then," said I, "I will tell you what I think
to be the whole system of atonement, which I think is the sum and
substance, the root, the marrow, and the essence of the gospel. This is
the way Christ is able to forgive. Suppose," said I, "you had killed
some one. You were a murderer; you were condemned to die, and you
deserved it." "Faith," said he, "Yes I should deserve it." "Well, her
Majesty is very desirous of saving your life, and yet at the same time
universal justice demands that some one should die on account of the
deed that is done. Now, how is she to manage?" Said he, "That is the
question. I cannot see how she can be inflexibly just, and yet suffer
me to escape." "Well," said I, "suppose, Pat, I should go to her and
say, Here is this poor Irishman, he deserved to be hanged, your
Majesty; I don't want to quarrel with the sentence, because I think it
just; but, if you please, I so love him that if you were to hang me
instead of him I should be very willing.' Pat, suppose she should agree
to it, and hang me instead of you; what then? would she be just in
letting you go?" "Ay," said he, "I should think she would. Would she
hang two for one thing? I should say not. I'd walk way, and there isn't
a policeman that would touch me for it." "Ah!" said I, "that is how
Jesus saves. Father,' he said, I love these poor sinners; let me suffer
instead of them!' Yes,' said God, thou shalt;' and on the tree he died,
and suffered the punishment which all his elect people ought to have
suffered; so that now all who believe on him, thus proving themselves
to be his chosen, may conclude that he was punished for them, and that
therefore they never can be punished." "Well," said he, looking me in
the face once more, "I understand what you mean; but how is it, if
Christ died for all men, that notwithstanding, some men are punished
again? For that is unjust." "Ah!" said I, "I never told you that. I say
to you that he has died for all that believe on him, and all who
repent, and that was punished for their sins so absolutely and so
really, that none of them shall ever be punished again." "Faith," said
the man, clapping his hands, "that's the gospel; if it isn't, then I
don't know anything, for no man could have made that up; it is so
wonderful. Ah!" he said, as he went down the stairs, "Pat's safe now;
with all his sins about him he'll trust in the man that died for him,
and so he shall be saved." Dear hearer, Christ is mighty to save,
because God did not turn away the sword, but he sheathed it in his own
Son's heart; he did not remit the debt, for it was paid in drops of
precious blood; and now the great receipt is nailed to the cross, and
our sins with it, so that we may go free if we are believers in him.
For this reason he is "mighty to save," in the true sense of the word.
But in the large sense of the word, understanding it to mean all that I
have said it does mean, He is "mighty to save." How is it that Christ
is able to make men repent, to make men believe, and to make them turn
to God? One answers, "Why by the eloquence of preachers." God forbid we
should ever say that! It is "not by might nor by power." Other
replying, "It is by the force of moral suasion." God forbid we should
say "ay" to that; for moral suasion has been tried long enough on man,
and yet it has failed of success. How does he do it? We answer, by
something which some of you despise, but which, nevertheless, is a
fact. he does it by the Omnipotent influence of his Divine Spirit.
Whilst men are hearing the word (in those whom God will save) the Holy
Spirit works repentance; he changes the heart and renews the soul.
True, the preaching is the instrument, but the Holy Spirit is the great
agent. It is certain that the truth is the means of saving, but it is
the Holy Ghost applying the truth which saves souls. Ah! and with this
power of the Holy Ghost e may go to the most debased and degraded of
men, and we need not be afraid but that God can save them. If God
should be please, the Holy Spirit could at this moment make every one
of you fall on your knees, confess your sins, and turn to God. He is an
Almighty Spirit, able to do wonders. In the life of Whitfield, we read
that sometimes under one of his sermons two thousand persons would at
once profess to be saved, and were really so, many of them. We ask why
it was. At other times he preached just as powerfully, and not one soul
was saved. Why? Because in the one case the Holy Spirit went with the
Word, and in the other case it did not. All the heavenly result of
preaching is owing to the Divine Spirit sent from above. I am nothing;
my brethren in the ministry around are all nothing; it is God that
doeth everything. "Who is Paul, who is Apollos, and who is Cephas, but
ministers by whom ye believed, even as God gave to every man." It must
be "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Go
forth, poor minister! Thou has no power to preach with polished diction
and elegant refinement; go and preach as thou canst. The Spirit can
make thy feeble words more mighty than the most ravishing eloquence.
Alas! alas! for oratory! Alas! for eloquence! It hath long enough been
tried. We have had polished periods, and finely turned sentences; but
in what place have the people been saved by them? We have had grand and
gaudy language; but where have hearts been renewed! But now, "by the
foolishness of preaching," by the simple utterance by a child of God's
Word, he is pleased to save them that believe and to save sinners from
the error of their ways. May God prove his Word again this morning!
IV. The fourth point was, WHAT ARE THE INFERENCES TO BE DERIVED FROM
THE FACT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS MIGHTY TO SAVE?
Why, first, there is a fact for ministers to learn–that they should
endeavour to preach in faith, nothing wavering. "O God," cries the
minister at times, when he is on his knees, "I am weak; I have preached
to my hearers, and have wept over them; I have groaned for them; but
they will not turn to thee. Their hearts are like the nether
mill-stone; they will not weep for sin, nor will they love the
Saviour." Then I think I see the angel standing at his elbow, and
whispering in his ear, "Thou art weak, but he is strong; thou canst do
nothing, but he is mighty to save.'" Bethink thyself of this. It is not
the instrument, but the God. It is not the pen wherewith the author
writes which is to have the praise of his wisdom or the making of the
volume, but it is the brain that thinks it, and the hand that moves the
pen. So in salvation. It is not the minister, it is not the preacher,
but the God who first designs the salvation, and afterwards uses the
preacher to work it out. Ah! poor disconsolate preacher, if thou hast
had but little fruit of thy ministry, go on still in faith, remembering
it is written, "My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and prosper in the thing whereto I sent
it." Go on; be of good courage; God shall help thee; he shall help
thee, and that right early.
Again, here is another encouragement for praying men and women, who are
praying to God for their friends. Mother, you have been groaning for
your son for many a year; he is now grown up and has left your roof,
but your prayers have not been heard. So you think. He is as gay as
ever; not yet has he made your breast rejoice. Sometimes you think he
will bring your grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. It was but
yesterday you said, "I will give him up, I will never pray for him
again." Stop, mother, stop! By all that is holy and that is heavenly,
stop! Utter not that resolution again; begin once more! Thou hast
prayed over him; thou didst weep over his infant forehead, when he lay
in his cradle; thou didst teach him when he came to years of
understanding and thou hast often warned him since; but all of no
avail. Oh! give not up thy prayers; for remember, Christ is "mighty to
save." It may be that he waits to be gracious, and he keeps thee
waiting, that thou mayest know more of his graciousness when the mercy
comes. But pray on. I have heard of mothers who have prayed for their
children twenty years; ay, and some who have died without seeing them
converted, and then their very death has been the means of saving their
children, by leading them to think. A father once had been a pious man
for many years, yet never had he the happiness of seeing one of his
sons converted. He had his children round his bed, and he said to them
when dying, "My sons, I could die in peace, if I could but believe you
would follow me to heaven; but this is the most sorrowful thing of
all–not that I am dying, but that I am leaving you to meet you no
more." They looked at him, but they would not think on their ways. They
went away. Their father was suddenly overtaken with great clouds and
darkness of mind; instead of dying peacefully and happily, he died in
great misery of soul, but still trusting in Christ. He said, when he
died, "Oh! that I had died a happy death, for that would have been a
testimony to my sons; but now, O God, this darkness and these clouds
have in some degree taken away my power to witness to the truth of thy
religion." Well, he died, and was buried. The sons cam to the funeral.
The day after, one of them said to his brother, "Brother, I have been
thinking, father was always a pious man, and if his death was yet such
a gloomy one, how gloomy must ours be, without God and without Christ!"
"Ah!" said the other, "that thought struck me too." They went up to
God's house, heard God's Word, they came home and bent their knee in
prayer, and to their surprise they found that the rest of the family
had done the same, and that the God who had never answered their
father's prayer in his life had answered it after his death, and by his
death too, and by such a death as would appear to be most unlikely to
have wrought the conversion of any. Pray on, then, my sister; pray on,
my brother! God shall yet bring thy sons and daughters to his love and
fear, and thou shalt rejoice over them in heaven, if thou never dost on
earth.
And finally, my dear hearers, there are many of you here this morning
who have no love to God, no love to Christ; but you have a desire in
your hearts to love him. You are saying, "Oh! can he save me? Can such
a wretch as I be saved?" In the thick of the crowd there you are
standing, and you are now saying within yourself, "May I one day sing
among the saints above? May I have all my sins blotted out by blood
divine?" "Yes, sinner, he is mighty to save;' and this is comfort for
thee." Dost thou think thyself the worst of men? Does conscience smite
thee as with a mailed fist, and does he say it is all over with thee;
thou wilt be lost; thy repentance will be of no avail; thy prayers
never will be heard; thou art lost to all intents and purposes? My
hearer, think not so. He is "mighty to save." If thou canst not pray,
he can help thee to do it; if thou canst not repent, he can give thee
repentance; if thou feelest it hard to believe, he can help thee to
believe, for he is exalted on high to give repentance, as well as to
give remission of sins. O poor sinner, trust in Jesus; cast thyself on
him. Cry, and may God help thee to do it now, the first Sabbath of the
year; may he help thee this very day to cast thy soul on Jesus; and
this will be one of the best years of all thy life. "Turn ye, turn ye;
why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Turn unto Jesus, ye wearied souls;
come unto him, for lo, he bids you come. "The Spirit and the bride say
come; and let him that heareth say come; and whosoever will let him
come and take of the water of life," and have Christ's grace freely. It
is preached to you, and to all of you who are willing to receive it, it
has been already given.
May God of his grace make you willing, and so save your souls, through
Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.